What is Argo?
Argo is an international programme for a global
in-situ obervation system in the ocean which is based on autonomously
working floats. Argo’s global array of profiling floats provides a major
contribution to the Global Ocean Oberving System (GOOS) and the
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Argo is endorsed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
Float deployments began in 2000 with the goal to
establish global coverage with an array of 3000 floats which was
achieved in October 2007. These floats are providing around 100,000
observations per year throughout the deep-ocean areas of the world.
Around 800 floats will need to be deployed each year to maintain the
3000 float array.
The floats drift in the ocean interior and return to
the sea surface at regular intervals. Their data are transmitted via
satellite for processing. A significant improvement of this new
technology is the complete spatial and temporal data coverage,
particularly in remote ocean areas and throughout all seasons. Data are
available in near- real time through two Global Data Access Centres in France
and the US.
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